Sonnets, Songs, and Triumphs

In this time of public mourning and the affliction of all Christians, one should not fail to recall with the utmost contrition and memory the most holy Passion of our almighty Lord. This [falling in love] could never have happened if her beauty had not been marvelous and more than human; and therefore, he was all the more easily pierced to the heart by the insidious blows of Love, because he was not on his guard, out of respect for the day—a day given not to pleasures, but to displeasures and wretched weeping. In such a day, anyone from whom reason has not entirely fled and been banished would usually defend themselves from every arrow of Love as from something abominable and mortal. This demonstrates the intolerable power of such passion, since even the gravest and wisest men can no longer guard themselves against it, as was the case with Caesar, Alexander, Hercules, Samson, and David. It grieved him that Love struck him in such a state, Petrarch is pained that he was struck by Love on a holy day of mourning. while to his beloved M. L. Madonna Laura Love did not even make a sign of wanting to strike her; in saying this, the poet secretly commends the virtue and honesty of this most beautiful lady.

IT WAS the day: that is, that specific day. WHICH for the sun: in which for the sun. THE RAYS turned pale out of pity and compassion. FOR its creator Jesus Christ, who made or created the sun from nothing: that is, all other things, both corporeal and incorporeal. This day was Good Friday, when our Lord God passed from this life, and the sun obscured itself with its rays and withdrew its flashing splendor. WHEN on that day. I was captured by the snare of Love; AND I did not guard myself against it, out of respect, thinking that on the sacred day of such a Passion, Love ought to flee and not pursue anyone; and therefore I felt secure. Thus he adds: And I did not guard myself that your beautiful eyes would bind me. Among other beauties, the loveliness and gracious gaze of the eyes is what most entangles a man in love. TIME did not seem to me opportune or fit, out of respect for the day, TO build a defense with the shield of reason and of continence continence: the ability to exercise self-restraint, especially regarding physical desires Against the blows of love: which had been placed in ambush. THEREFORE I went about secure without any such thought, without suspicion of being able to be wounded. Whence my woes—my "alas"—began amidst the common sorrow of all non-warring Christians. He gives the reason why he began to feel the suffering of such passion: because he was found and wounded without having prepared himself, and he says: Love found me. entirely disarmed: of the armor of continence. And he found also OPEN that path which passes through the eyes to the heart; for all sensible things are referred to our soul through the sensory instruments. Thus the soul feels, and not the body, except for what is granted to it by the soul—which, according to the opinion of some (though this pleases neither Plato nor Aristotle), had its principal seat in the heart. But because the vital spirits are in the heart, the poet says he was struck in the heart so as to show that the blows were mortal. To demonstrate the heavy and narrow anguish, he says: THAT the eyes. ARE made a door: that is, to the exterior parts, from which tears are shed; AND a passage for tears: as for the transition from the eyes to the heart; having reached the heart, the eyes push out the anguished tears. Because I was disarmed, in my view—according to my opinion—IT brought him no honor to strike me with an amorous arrow in that state of devotion and mournful displeasure. AND not even to show the bow: to make no sign of falling in love To you: Madonna Laura. ARMED: with modesty together with marvelous beauty enough to move not just Petrarch—but stones.

Cupid is called by the poets the god of love, because carnal love seems to be nothing other than a cupidity and desire for the venereal act; and for this reason, the poet Simonides says Cupid was born only of Venus. Orpheus, in his Argonautica, writes that he was the son of Chaos, which is the primary matter of created things; nothing appeared before Love—that is, the concord and harmony without which, as is understood in the elements and in every corporeal composition, no thing could be long-lasting. Others say Cupid was the son of Venus and Mars, which are those two planets in whose conjunction those who are born are inclined to the stings of the flesh and venery, according to Aristotle, because those who attend to military exercise are incited to lust. Some say he was born of Venus and Vulcan, because for the act of luxury, heat and moisture are needed: moisture is represented by Venus as a woman (since the nature of man is hot and dry, while the female is moist), and heat is placed in Vulcan (since his nature is hot). Furthermore, they feign Cupid to be of a boyish age because the concupiscence of dishonest love is foolishness, and foolishness is common in a child; and also because the speech of those in love is interrupted and their pursuits are unstable. They give him a bow because, just as arrows are swift and uncertain, so too are the actions of lovers very sudden and doubtful. The nudity given to him signifies the imprudence of those who are oppressed by such a passion.